So We Thought
by syrup78
Summary: (Sequel to "It's Her") Amelia and Owen are married and living in their dream house, with two daughters they love despite the unconventional way the family came together. Still, every family has its drama. Can this family surmount their rocky pasts, or will the future haunt them as well?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! I was sad to end It's Her, but happy to present this new story! For those of you who want some background, It's Her comes before this story but I'll try to write it so that you don't have to read that one to understand this one. If something is confusing though, feel free to ask about it in the reviews. Other than that, enjoy and thanks again!**

 **P.S. This is going to be a really short chapter just to set up the story, in the future they will be about 3-4k as per my usual.**

 _Amelia_

Having an 18 year old and a 20 year old daughter was more work than I ever could have imagined. I mean for one, kids don't stop being kids when they're 18. No siree, they still look at you when they need a meal, when they have to schedule doctor's appointments and when they need money. Granted, I wasn't able to raise my daughters from birth so I was grateful for the chance to parent them now. Still, really? I was stepping over tons of dirty laundry in Kaleigh's room, fighting the urge to just pick it up and put it in the hamper for her.

I was in her room looking for something. Okay, fine, some might call it snooping but I liked to call it being an involved parent. She had been acting weird lately, which could have been and was likely due to the fact that she essentially is living with her sister and two recently married strangers that she hadn't had time yet to connect with, but it was always good to make sure.

Besides, I had texted Meredith with my suspicions, and she told me to go for it, so it can't be a completely bad idea, right?

Wrong!

I knew I'd seen enough when I came across the used condom in the trash. Kaleigh got herself a boyfriend pretty quickly at her new school, but I wasn't expecting this. I wondered if I would have to give her a safe sex talk later. Kids had that before they were 18, right? Ugh, I wished Owen was home. He would know what to do.

My search came up fruitless, I guess you could say, so I decided to go downstairs and make sandwich for Kaleigh to eat when she got back from school. We bought her and Alexa a car to share, because who wanted to be riding the school bus their senior year? Alexa mostly stayed in her dorm during the week now, so Kaleigh took it to school every day and they only ever fought about it on weekends.

At exactly 2:17 Kaleigh strolled through the front door. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," she nodded back, putting her backpack on the chair next to her as she sat down at the table. "Is this for me?" she asked, gesturing towards the sandwich. I nodded.

It was kind of funny, how she still wasn't completely comfortable with us. I mean, I got it, really I did. I wasn't taking it personal, I just wish there was something else Owen and I could do to help her adjust.

Scratch that. Owen and Kaleigh were actually really close. I was happy for them, if not a bit jealous. He was always so great with kids, they seemed to hit it off quickly. And of course Kaleigh and Alexa are close. So that just left me.

Our big happily ever after… or so we thought.

 _Alexa_

Even though it was decidedly okay to resume dorm life, I still worried about Kaleigh every day. I texted her nonstop like an attached ex looking to rekindle the relationship. I wondered if she thought I was being annoying or if she appreciated the concern. Probably both. What was I supposed to do? I was her big sister.

Lily, who was my best friend now, barely batted an eye when I finally spilled the entire story of how I studied abroad from UNH in the fall, and found Amelia, my birth mother, and moved in with her to leave behind my abusive adoptive mother, and then of course how my little sister Kaleigh, who's not even from the same parents, came along because Amelia and Owen were just _that_ giving and _that_ caring and _that_ generous. I seriously owed them my life. Kaleigh and I both did.

Kaleigh texted me back most days that she was hanging out with new friends or her boyfriend, but I secretly wished she would spend more time at home so that she could come to love Amelia and Owen the way I have. I knew relationships couldn't be forced but a little effort would be nice, right?

 _Owen_

Amelia looked like crap when I finally got home well into the night. She was mindlessly staring at the TV like a zombie. For a second I feared she was high on something, but she gave me her undivided attention as soon as I sat down on the bed. "Hey, Meel. Sorry I'm late. It was a busy day."

She bit her fingernail and nodded. I could tell she was missing work. She had been working less and less, trying to be here for Kaleigh and get her settled. I personally thought it didn't just work like that, that relationships didn't just form because you spend time in the same proximity, but whatever she needed to do I was going to support her.

"Derek did a standstill surgery today."

 _That_ certainly got her attention. "He _what?!_ " She smacked me with the pillow next to her. "And you didn't even call me! I could have at least watched! Tell me everything."

I smiled and even though I was dead tired, I laid down and started getting into every miniscule detail for her because that's what she needed.

 _Kaleigh_

I was hiding in my room, like always, when my phone rang. I jumped a little bit. I wasn't used to callers, but since I moved to Seattle I have a decent amount of friends. The caller ID told me it was Jess, who was probably my closest friend at the time, but I wasn't in any mood to answer her.

This was my time. I did this every night. I guess you could call it meditating, but it wasn't really like that. I just stared at my ceiling for an hour or so, thinking about everything I left behind. Mourning, I guess. My (adoptive) father. All my friends, all my teachers, my extended family that I grew up loving. All gone in a blink of an eye.

I'm glad to be away from the abusive home I was in. Don't get me wrong. But everything happened so fast that I barely had time to let go of my old life before starting a new one. Amelia and Owen were great, and I was so grateful, I just…

Part of me missed it.

Especially after those two little lines appeared a few minutes after I squatted over the test in my en suite bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome back all. I'm sure you're used to inconsistent updates from me by now but I'm still very sorry it has taken so long!**

 _Kaleigh_

I always hated the way people assumed my name is pronounced. I mean, looking at it, yeah, it looks the same as "Callie". But it's actually said the same as "Kaylee". I'll never know why it was spelled that way but it's the only thing I ever got from my biological parents so I decided to hold onto it.

People at school still called me "Callie". I was constantly correcting people on it. It never seemed to stick though.

Just another reminder that I wasn't at home anymore.

When I parked my car in the senior lot, I felt like I might pass out. "Hi, Callie," someone waved to me. I waved back. I wasn't unpopular or anything, in fact, I think I could be popular here if I cared. But I don't.

I went up to Nick's locker. Nick wasn't anything special, as much as I hate to admit it, but he was nice and kind and if I wasn't so out of sorts from everything that's happened I think I could probably have a good relationship with him. He acts like he won the lottery, though, and for me it's mostly sex and a tiny bit of affection.

I had the sinking feeling that he would want to step up and raise the kid if I told him, but how could I not? "Can I talk to you?" I said without any hesitation or introduction. He was nodding as he pulled two textbooks from the bottom of his locker.

"Yeah, what's up?" he asked, smiling at me.

Well, this was it. Now or never. "I'm… I'm pregnant, Nick."

He laughed at first because he thought I was joking.

Considering my life is a joke now, it seemed fitting.

 _Owen_

I was surprised to get a call from Kaleigh in the middle of her school day, but I had the morning off so I was able to answer.

"Everything okay?" I answered. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Can you come pick me up?"

"Isn't your car at the school?" I said, stunned.

"I can't… I don't want to drive right now. Please, Owen."

"Okay, okay, I'm on my way."

The drive to the school wasn't that long but it felt like ages trying to get to Kaleigh. She so far hadn't shown any vulnerability to me or Amelia so I knew that it had to be something decently big for her to be calling about.

I didn't know the school that well so I just pulled up to the front curb, but luckily she came out one of the side doors right away and saw me. She slid into the passenger seat silently.

I could tell she had been crying but her arms were crossed and she was looking out the window like she was angry.

"So, are we going to talk about this? What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm just mulling over all the ways I can break this to you. And I'm pissed that this happened to me."

"Saying it to me in any other way than the honest truth isn't going to change anything," I pointed out.

"I know."

"So what happened to you?"

"I got pregnant."

The words hung in the air for a moment. Pregnant. Kaleigh was _pregnant_.

"Say something, please. I mean, I know this is a monumental fuck up and you guys took me and you barely know me so that makes it worse but I _promise_ I was doing everything the right way and I-"

"Kaleigh," I said finally. "I am not mad or upset with you. I understand it has not been easy for you to move across the country and be raised by people you hardly know." I sighed.

"But?"

"But what? I am just saying I know it has been difficult on you. But Amelia and I, and Alexa of course, are all here to support you. That includes during this. I'm glad you told me."

"You mean instead of her?"

I did, but I didn't confirm that.

 _Alexa_

It was Friday afternoon so I was on the bus to the Walmart plaza where Amelia usually picked me up for the weekend. Sometimes I had friends with me, but this weekend I just wanted to hang out and get some homework done. The semester was finally starting to kick up and I was about to get behind if I didn't take a weekend off.

Kaleigh was texting me like crazy, which was weird. Usually it was the other way around. She was saying she wanted to talk to me and asking me what time I was going to be home (as if it wasn't the same every single weekend). I could only imagine. She probably wanted to ask me what outfit she should wear to a party she got invited to or whether I thought it would be bad if she went to dinner with a group of people but Nick wasn't invited.

Amelia pulled into the parking lot just as the bus did. I was out of my seat before it stopped moving, desperate to get into the fresh, if not brisk air. I got motion sickness so easily that even the twenty five minute bus ride was starting to take its toll.

I was the only one getting off at this stop so I waited for the bus to pull away before crossing to the car. It was raining hard and I just wanted to get home.

"Hey, how was your week?" Amelia asked as we pulled off.

"Alright. Boring. It's school. I mean, it's fun sometimes but I just want to get to the part where I have a cool scientific job already."

She chuckled. "Well, you have to learn the science behind the job first."

"I know, I just wish it wasn't so repetitive! I have learned about the structure of an amino acid in like four different classes now."

"Well, good, then you'll know it extra well for when you need it."

I rolled my eyes. "I bet you still have the twenty common amino acids memorized. As a surgeon, you probably encounter that _every day_."

I should have known better. "Actually, I do. Alanine is A, with a methyl R-group, Arginine is R, with a 4 carbon, three nitrogen side chain, actually, if you let me draw it for you when we get back I can show you-"

"Alright!" I declared. "You were seriously prepared to list them in alphabetical order too. Jesus."

"It's just memorization. It's not that impressive."

"I would kill to be half as smart as you." I meant it.

"You're smarter than me in ways you don't even realize yet," she said.

"Cryptic," I noted.

"Oh come on! Give me a break I was paying you a compliment."

We laughed for a second before I abruptly changed the subject. "Is Kaleigh okay?"

"I mean I haven't talked to her much today, or do you mean in general?"

 _Amelia_

I was driving Alexa home from the bus stop when she asked about Kaleigh. But I didn't know if what she was worried about is the same thing as what I was worried about. I mean, I was all for normalizing sex and everything but was this too soon for a maladjusted teenager who just got here a couple months ago?

Whatever I thought, it didn't have much to do with Alexa. I can't imagine my mother talking to Nancy or Kathleen or Liz about my sex life when I was younger. Or now. I guess it was different.

"Why do you ask?" I wondered out loud.

"Nothing, nothing… she's just been texting me all day and I didn't know if there was some particular thing that she's been stressing about that you knew about. Like if she was going out or something," Alexa explained.

"Um, nope. I haven't been home yet today though, I came straight from the hospital."

"How was it?" she asked.

"Good. I mostly did consults today but I have a surgery with Derek tomorrow, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah… as long as he doesn't completely take over it should be fine," I admitted.

"So, take it back from him."

"What?"

"If he starts taking over, just take it back. He doesn't see how arrogant he gets."

I laughed. "You know, just because you're my kid doesn't mean you have to say that."

"Please! I'm not just saying that for your benefit. Besides, you have your own arrogant streak too, just not when it comes to him. I'm sure I've inherited that awful gene as well."

"Yeah, from Mark maybe," I said.

"Whatever. I can't wait to take a nap in my bed. I'll arise again at approximately dinner time."

"Who said I was making dinner?"

Alexa smiled at me as she got out of the car, collecting her backpack and the ever present laundry.

The house was empty when we got back, which was weird because Owen wasn't supposed to be due into work until 2 pm.

Something about this week just felt off.

 _Kaleigh_

"Where do you want to go?" Owen asked me. "Those two will be back by now. She left to get Alexa before you called me."

"You're not making me go back to school?"

His eyes turned sad and sympathetic. "Unless you're in danger of failing out from one afternoon of missed classes, you don't have to go back to school."

"Um, could we, do you think we could get lunch before going back home? I just… I'm not ready to tell anyone else yet." The implication that I was talking about Alexa _and_ Amelia was there.

"Sure. Up for a burger?"

"Yeah."

He picked a place that was a little extra out of the way. I would have liked to believe that was for me, but he probably wouldn't admit to that.

When we pulled into the parking lot. HE shut off the car but made no start to the door so we sat there silently for a minute. My hand trailed to my stomach, even though I knew I wasn't showing. I had checked this morning in the mirror from a bunch of angles.

"Kaleigh can I just ask… how long have you known?"

"A couple of days, maybe. It's not… it can't be that old. Maybe like a week or two. Is that too soon for the test to come back positive?"

"We should… you should come to the hospital. Get everything checked out. Make sure it isn't a false positive."

"Does that happen often?" I bit my lip.

"No."

"Do we have to go today? I kind of want to just stay home today."

"No, we don't have to go today. But I don't want to harbor this secret… I… It could hurt them, feeling like we knew this huge thing and didn't tell either of them," Owen said quietly.

"It could hurt them to find out, too," I pointed out.

"I know," he nodded.

 _Owen_

 _It's going to hurt a lot more than you realize_ , I was thinking. Because Kaleigh was pregnant. Kaleigh had a baby growing inside of her, and Amelia had that once too, only she had to give it up and then once again but the next time she was pregnant, her child was anencephalic.

I wondered how Amelia would react to this. I was scared to tell her. But I knew Kaleigh wasn't going to be able to do it herself. They had barely had a conversation of any sustenance since the girls moved in with us.

And Alexa. Wow, after things have finally settled down for her. Surely, she'd step up for Kaleigh but I couldn't imagine she wouldn't be upset at first. Maybe mad at Kaleigh, maybe at herself.

I thought of those two the whole way back to the school to get their car. The only blood relatives in the house. The two with the "A" names.

"Promise me one thing," I said as we pulled into the lot, bracing ourselves for what we would eventually have to face once we started home.

"What's that?"

"Promise me you won't make any… rash decisions before talking to Amelia. Or a doctor. Both. Please just wait. You have time if you… you have time."

"Owen-"

"Kaleigh, damn it, I just need you to promise me that. Okay?" My hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Okay, okay, I promise. Now you promise me. You won't tell her before I do. I want some time to think about what to say and… and I want to have just one more night where everything isn't shit before I start really thinking about this."

"Okay. Promise."

We crossed our pinkies and she left the car.

 _Alexa_

I was in prime nap mode when Kaleigh came home and woke me up. I mean, seriously? The rain had let up a little, so it was white noise as opposed to the usual pounding. It was cold enough in my room that I needed a comforter but the fire in the fire place was warm and ambient. I was spread out diagonally across my queen sized bed (I mean, compare that to the beds at college and you'd be crazy not to take as much advantage as possible). I had pillows surrounding me and I was just a bundled up ready to become partially comatose after a long week.

I hadn't been asleep more than ten minutes when she barged into my room without even knocking.

"You're not serious right now."

Apparently she didn't hear me, because she sat right down at the end of my bed and pulled some of the covers onto herself.

"Kaleigh-"

"Just let me sit for a minute." She was rocking back and forth.

"What's wrong?" I asked, wanting to get this over with. "Just spit it out already."

"You really want to know?"

"Not really, no, you've just been bugging me all day, so." I ripped the covers back and laid back down.

She started crying then, so I sat back up. Okay, maybe things were a little worse than I had realized.

"Nick… we…"

"Did you break up?" I asked. I felt bad.

She nodded her head no. "I'm pregnant with his kid."

I felt my face get really hot, right up to the tips of my ears. "What?"

"I took a test the other day. It came back positive. I'm pregnant."

"Kaleigh! No sir. Shut up. You're not funny."

She shrugged. "That's what he said, too. Before he realized I was telling the truth."

I flopped back down on my bed. "How did you let this happen?"

"I didn't! We… I mean we were safe every time… It must have just… I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" I yelled. "Kaleigh, seriously?"

"Shh!" She grabbed my arm. "Amelia doesn't know yet."

"Oh, that is perfect. Classic Kaleigh, asking me to cover up her tracks for you."

"I'm not asking you for anything other than to shut your stupid mouth for once in your life."

I scoffed. "What does that mean?"

"It means if you had just shut up about Mom and Dad we could still be living there! Mom wouldn't have been so mad if you didn't come out here and do all of this. And she wouldn't have come after us like that. We would still be happy."

I flinched at her words. "Kaleigh, I'm sorry if you're not happy here, but we couldn't stay there. The thing with… Mom… it started way before any of this. And I am happy here. You will be someday too, just… not right now? I don't know, Kaleigh. But I don't regret finding Amelia. It's the best decision I think I've ever made."

She sat in the chaise lounge against the wall. I straightened out my covers while she gained her composure.

"I'm going to tell Amelia, soon, just not… not tonight. It's too much tonight."

 _Amelia_

I was putting the recycling in the bin when I saw the box at the top. Whoever was trying to hid it was unlucky. The bin was almost full. If they had just thrown it out a couple days earlier I never would have seen it.

I knew whose it was. Alexa had been at school all week and there was no way she could have put that in there in the time we had been home. It wasn't mine, and, well, Owen didn't have a uterus so… that left Kaleigh.

Figures she was trying to the right thing by recycling the box but I still found out anyway.

I put a cup of milk in the microwave for hot chocolate, watching the plate turn around and around. Should I confront her? Or let her talk to me?

The answer was obvious but I still worried. If it was a negative, well, that just meant a talk on safer sex and being careful. A positive would have bigger implications.

I went through the motions that night, distracted. I made a pot pie for dinner. I sat on the couch with Owen while the girls went out to see a movie together. We all shared a gallon of ice cream while watching _Scandal_ and before I knew it I was in bed lying next to Owen who was staring at the ceiling.

Did he know?

Of course he knew. He was Owen. If Kaleigh was going to tell one of us, it was going to be him.

And they did get home around the same time today. Kaleigh had claimed she was sick but now I was doubting that.

"Meel," Owen said softly.

I couldn't tell if I was mad or hurt or what. And I was so surprised that he said anything that I stayed silent.

"Meel, what do you think about having a kid?"

 _Kaleigh_

It wasn't hard to sneak out Saturday morning. Everyone was still asleep or gone.

I know Owen had made me promise to wait but I couldn't. I needed to get answers, and I wasn't willing to do that in front of a million people who knew Owen and Amelia. I wanted some privacy. I needed to make this decision alone.

Maybe it was a false positive and I wouldn't have to make any decision at all.

I was stuck in my thoughts, so I must not have hear the doctor the first time. She came up to me and said my name again. "Kaleigh Lane?"

I stood.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Alexandra Silver. I'll be taking care of you today." She extended her hand to me to shake.

Dr. Silver had two prosthetic legs, but you wouldn't have been able to tell if she was wearing pants. She also had a lot of small white scars on her face and neck, but she was still so pretty with chin length brown hair and brown eyes that were warm and inviting. I don't know. Something told me I could trust her, so I did.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, I'm going to need some suspension of belief to take this where I want it so stick with me! It might be awful but it will get better lol.**

 _Kaleigh_

I shook Dr. Silver's hand, which was warm and soft. I could have burst into tears right there because she was just being so damn nice to me. I had been stressing about this all night and hardly slept, so I'm sure that helped, but the kindness of a stranger was enough to make my eyes at least sting.

I think she saw that, because she smiled at put her hand on my upper arm. "We're going to exam room number 4. Just follow me."

Things were starting to get a little blurry and I longed for the chance to sit down again. I was just so damn _tired_.

The room was less industrial than I had expected. There was a blood draw chair in the corner and cabinets with medical supplies, but I was sitting on a couch and Dr. Silver was lowering herself slowly into a desk chair. I tried not to stare as she maneuvered with her prosthetics.

"So, Kaleigh," Dr. Silver started. She somehow knew the correct way to pronounce my name, or maybe I had corrected her and didn't even remember. Maybe the receptionist told her how I had said it. "What's going on today?"

I took a deep breath. I knew I was about to cry if I explained the situation but I wasn't about to sob in front of this person who I barely knew, so I just let the tears slowly burn my cheeks as I told her all about my predicament. I was safe, I assured her. I did everything right.

"Well, condoms are only about 98% effective, when used perfectly correctly. But nobody is expecting you to be perfect. So Kaleigh, please, don't feel guilty about this. What matters now is how you choose to move forward. We'll do a blood test to confirm it, but we're here to support whatever decision you make if it comes back positive. What about at home? Do you have a good support system there?"

"My sister… she's 20. I don't… my parents are… Well, I don't live with my parents. I live with my sister's biological mother and her husband. It's weird, I know, but we were both adopted, and…"

Dr. Silver put her hand up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but you don't have to explain weird families to me. My family had its own unconventionality."

"Had?" I asked. _Stupid_. Not everybody wanted to share every detail of their life with you, even if they were being nice to you.

"It's… well, it's complicated. But I just mean that I understand. But you have your sister so that's good. Have you told her, or anyone? The father?"

I nodded. "I told Nick. And Alexa. My sister. And I told Owen, Amelia's fiancé, but not Amelia. They are both doctors, so I just wanted to get some information from somewhere else before I talked to them about it… I only told Owen because I needed to tell someone who wasn't Nick or Alexa, if that makes sense." I realized I was rambling but it was because Dr. Silver had grown silent and looked stunned.

"Owen and Amelia you say? Doctors?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, they took me in even though Amelia is Alexa's bio mom. Her bio dad died in an accident of some sort. A plane crash, maybe? I forget."

Dr. Silver was paling by the minute. "A plane crash?"

"Umm… yeah, I think so."

"It's not… Amelia Shepherd and Owen Hunt by chance?"

Weird. How did she know that? I felt uncomfortable now. "Yeah… how…"

Dr. Silver cleared her throat. "Oh, uh, I follow a lot of doctors from the area that do research that I'm interested in. And the plane crash story was published in the paper."

"But how does that have to do with-"

"So if you'll just take a seat in the chair over there, I can take some blood and put a rush on the test…" Dr. Silver stood abruptly, cutting me off. "It will take about a few hours for the test to come back from the lab with the rush, so you are welcome to leave and we'll contact you when it's ready."

My head was spinning. Why was Dr. Silver so frazzled? She had seemed so sweet and helpful at first but now she seemed like she couldn't get me out of there fast enough.

I didn't fail to notice that she didn't let this affect her blood draw and efficiently inserted the needle into my elbow. I had to look away when the blood started filling the vial. I was a little squeamish. My biological parents were tax attorneys.

Dr. Silver gave me some literature and I was on my way. As soon as I was outside the clinic, I ripped off the gauze and threw it in a trashcan near the bus stop. No need to warrant any more questions than I wanted to answer.

The bus splashed a ton of runoff on me before coming to a stop.

 _Amelia_

Owen and I had been up "discussing" things all night.

It's not that I didn't want a kid. It's that I was appalled by the fact that he had chosen to bring it up _now._ Now, when Kaleigh was having a pregnancy scare at best. Now, when both of the girls had just gotten into a routine and were maybe beginning to feel like this was their home. Now, when we ourselves had just gotten our footing back.

He thought this would be the best time. He knew it was going to affect Kaleigh and Alexa but he figured we should get it over with now while they were still adjusting so they didn't have to readjust later. As if that were some big profound psychological statement. He didn't dare say anything about Kaleigh, but I could tell he knew by the way he talked about them.

We agreed to table the discussion for a time when we both had work off and could talk about it in a more appropriate medium. Obviously that meant I was going to take on as many extra shifts as possible, in a sad attempt to delay the inevitable. I was too afraid that what had happened to us before would happen again.

I just needed time. Time to talk to Meredith and see what she thought, because so often she seemed to know exactly the right thing to do for Alexa, and Kaleigh for that matter. Time to square away this thing with Kaleigh before it became a problem that involved the whole family. Time to get over the taste of metal in my mouth every time I thought about being pregnant again.

Time to mourn while being sober.

I was so used to having things on my mind while at work that I had turned into an avoidance machine. Excuses left and right. Emotions checked at the door. Concealer under the eyes. Lies to those close to me.

My surgery with Derek was the first thing I had going on that morning, so I had to deal with his worried glances and condescendence while we were in the scrub room.

"If you're not feeling up to it, Amy, I can have…"

I rolled my eyes. "You're ridiculous. Anything to be the hero, Derek. Anything at all. I'm fine. I'm just tired, what doctor isn't?"

"That's it, huh?"

I was scrubbing my arms harder than needed, until the blood rose to my skin and stung. "Owen kind of dropped a bombshell last night so I had to have a somewhat unpleasant conversation but that doesn't mean I can't do this. I know how to compartmentalize, you know."

"If you're sure."

"I'm freaking sure, alright! Jesus, Derek." We finished our mandated four minutes of scrubbing together and headed into the OR for what was going to be a long, challenging surgery. Just what I needed.

 _Alexa_

I didn't wake up until later than I would like to admit on Saturday. I didn't smell breakfast so either I missed it or both Amelia and Owen were at work and didn't make any. Slightly disappointing, but I was a college student, so I was used to lowering my standards as far as food went.

My phone had blown up last night because of a group chat with my friends at school. They were trying to make plans and I obviously wasn't there so I muted the conversation, but looking back this morning made me feel a little left out. Maybe it was just that I was still at odds about Kaleigh's news and would rather be at school. But I was very tempted to call my friend Grace and see if she would pick me up.

Before I had the chance, Kaleigh came bounding down the stairs. She was already fully dressed and awake, so I wondered if she was waiting for me to wake up. "Hey," I said, pouring some Count Chocula cereal for myself. "Are they both at work?"

Kaleigh was visible shaken. "Yeah… Let me run something by you. But I need you to shut up and listen to the whole thing before you comment."

"Alright," I agreed.

"I went to a clinic. This morning, while you were asleep. I figured I would get some information for myself before… well before I had to tell Amelia and start dealing with it. I wanted to be educated, you know? Anyways… they took my blood and ran a test to make sure it wasn't a false positive. Dr. Silver put a rush on it so she said it would take a few hours…"

I swallowed my cereal. "And?"

"And it's been a few hours. I have a voicemail from the clinic but I'm too afraid to check it."

I rolled my eyes. "Give me your phone. I'll do it. You can't just avoid it, you know."

"Oh, shut up, and stop acting like you know better than me about everything because you're two years older." Kaleigh wrenched her phone off the counter before I could grab it. "I just wanted to know if you thought I should wait or not. Your opinion is clear."

"Wait for what? The news isn't going to change if you wait to hear it. I mean, what are the chances that you had a false positive anyway? 0.001%?" I argued.

Kaleigh sighed. "I know that, alright? I just… I don't want to ruin everything just yet. Right now there's still hope."

I sighed. "You're not ruining anything, except maybe your own sanity. I'm telling you, Kay, these people are going to support you. They love you, even if you don't exactly love them yet. They aren't just going to throw you out on the street if you are pregnant. Plus, you've already told Owen, and he was fine wasn't he?"

"It wasn't him I was worried about," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"Amelia… we barely talk, Alexa. I just don't know how to connect with her. I'm afraid of what she'll think of me when I tell her. Some kid she took in out of obligation to you and who she barely knows."

I was getting irrationally mad at Kaleigh now. "So talk to her! She's not some monster, she will want to help you. And she didn't just take you in because of me. Sure, I asked her. Sure, she wouldn't have even thought about it without everything that happened but I don't know what it's going to take to get you to see that this isn't the worst place in the world to be living." I hopped off the counter stool, still yelling. "In fact, we _were_ living somewhere worse. Somewhere where every word you said had to be perfectly planned, and you could never be yourself, and you had to always walk on eggshells, and you got baseball bats thrown at you for no reason, and… and…"

"It wasn't for no reason, Alexa! God. You say "you" like that applies to me too, but it doesn't. I _liked_ living there."

"How can you be so naïve? She came after you too!" I dumped my cereal down the garbage disposal and "placed" the bowl in the sink. And by that, I mean slammed it so hard that it shattered. My hands were trembling and I swear I could have slapped Kaleigh. "And are you seriously trying to imply that it was my fault, what happened? I can be accountable for how my actions have affected you, but I am _done_ blaming myself for that toxic woman's behavior."

"What are you doing!" Kaleigh yelled as I began to pick up the glass shards.

"Just go away, Kaleigh. You're pissing me off right now."

"Fine. But I'm waiting to tell Amelia before I open the stupid voicemail."

"Shit," I said a minute later, because I had cut myself on a piece of the bowl. But when I turned around Kaleigh was already upstairs. Still, I wasn't alone, because Amelia, who must have come in while we were yelling at each other, was standing in the archway of the kitchen.

"Tell me what?" she asked, but her unsurprised and unconcerned face told me that she somehow already knew.

 _Amelia_

Alexa shrugged nervously and held up her bleeding hand. I grabbed a paper towel and applied pressure for her.

"Tell me what?" I repeated, waiting for the truth to finally come out. It had only been a day and I thought I could already feel a rift.

Alexa smiled sadly. "I think you already know."

I sighed, looking at Alexa's hand. "Well, are you alright? It looks fine. How did the bowl break?"

"I dropped it," she said. "I was angry. I'm sorry. I can get a new one."

I laughed out loud. "Please. That was from Nancy, I couldn't care less. Just be careful. And kind to your sister." The irony wasn't lost on me.

"She's so just so fricking aggravating sometimes. Now here I am in this position where I either have to sell her out to you or keep secrets from you, because she was too much of a wimp to deal with any of this…" I was surprised to see Alexa start crying. But I understood. I was always like that too. First came the rage, and then I would cry even if I wasn't sad. Fighting with people like that just made me upset.

"Hey," I rubbed her arm. "You don't have to tell me. I'm going to go talk to her now."

"Okay, but then she said it was my fault my mother was hurting me."

I was a little shocked by that, but I guess I wouldn't have put it past Kaleigh to be a verbal scrapper when she felt like she was in a corner. "She's just mad. Look, the reality is this is a lot harder on her than it is on you. I don't just mean the… situation. I mean everything. You know the truth, and I'm sure she does too, but she's going through a lot right now and she's going to need you on her side. I don't know what it's like to be an older sister but I know it would drive me nuts when mine tried to tell me what to do instead of supporting what I wanted to do, so keep that in mind, alright?" Frankly, I was impressed with myself for saying what I thought might actually be the right thing for once. Alexa gave me a teary nod and continued to clean up the sink. "Be careful. I'll be upstairs."

Amelia Shepherd, M.D. and parent of the day (had to start small), I thought to myself as I climbed the stairs. But it was easier with Alexa. We were so similar.

I knocked on Kaleigh's door and waited in the hall for her to let me in. I tried to remember the last time I was in here with her, and not by myself cleaning. It might have been when we showed her the room.

"I heard there's some news," I said levelly when she let me, sitting down at her desk chair.

She paused. "Who told you?"

She was so ready to believe that someone she had trusted had sold her out. I felt awful. "No one. I saw the box in the recycling bin."

Kaleigh put her hands to her eyes. "I'm so fricking stupid."

"What, um… what was the result."

Kaleigh looked at me. "Positive." She began to cry.

My heart sunk. Selfish thoughts swam around my head. I had to snap out of it.

"So now everybody knows?"

She nodded.

"Alright well, we should talk you in to see Arizona, then, so we can-"

"I went to a clinic this morning."

"Oh… you didn't… I mean you didn't, uh…"

"No, I didn't get an abortion, if that's what you're saying. They gave me some pamphlets and drew some blood to double check. The results are in. They're on a voicemail that I haven't checked yet." Kaleigh handed me her phone. "I can't do it myself."

I let out a breath. "Okay, well, we can do it together then, can't we?"

I hit the little play button and put the phone on speaker. Kaleigh couldn't even look at me.

A vaguely familiar voice rang out. "This message is for Kaleigh Lane, from Dr. Silver at the Family Health and Wellness Clinic. Your test results are in. If you could call back and make an appointment with me, we can discuss them. I have a lot of openings for today. Just call the reception desk and you can book from there. See you soon."

Did I know a Dr. Silver?

 _Kaleigh_

So they weren't even going to tell me whether I was really pregnant or not over that stupid voice mail. Really? Now I just had to put it off again.

"Let's make an appointment. I'll come with you… we all can if you want," Amelia offered.

"You don't have to do that," I said, but I couldn't lie. Some moral support would be nice, especially if Dr. Silver was going to act all squirrely again. I was hoping she would offer again.

"Are you sure?"

Relief flooded me. "Actually, maybe you could come with me. But just you. I don't want too many people. If that makes sense."

Amelia smiled at me. "Of course."

* * *

The appointment was later that afternoon. Alexa was a little bitter that I didn't invite her to come with me but I did want to make an effort with Amelia. I didn't want to admit it but Alexa was at least partially right. Amelia was better with the situation than I had anticipated.

"Kaleigh Lane?" the receptionist called out. I walked up to the desk with Amelia. "You can go to room 4 now. Dr. Silver is waiting for you in there… she's a little tired." The receptionist motioned to her legs.

"She has two prosthetics," I whispered to Amelia in the hall as we were about to go in.

Amelia froze in the doorway. "Lexie?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey everyone, sorry it's been SOOO long but I am one of those people who goes through writing phases and they don't always line up with when I have time being a student and all. Anyways, I ask one more time for your slight suspension of belief as this plot arc is more a means to an end than something I actually think is good writing. That said, R &R please and thank you! And check out my (rated M) fic, The Return.**

 _Amelia_

I couldn't believe my eyes.

"Lexie?" I asked, barely. I could barely speak.

"Amelia," she replied.

Kaleigh was looking between the two of us, confused. "You know each other?"

"Lexie… Well. She…" I shook my head, unable to form words. "Meredith…"

"No! Please don't call Meredith. She can't…"

Kaleigh must have been so confused by these fragments of sentences. I wished I could offer a better explanation but here was Lexie Grey. Back from the dead.

We had both been standing, but I was shaking so much I decided it would just be better to sit down. "How are you here? You were… Lexie, you were dead?"

Kaleigh's eyes widened but she seemed to pick up on the mood and didn't say anything else, quietly slipping into the chair next to me.

"I didn't die," Lexie said simply.

"Clearly," I retorted.

"Amelia…" Tears welled up in her eyes. "You weren't supposed to… I was waiting for the right time."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"When the plane crashed, I didn't die. I lost both of my legs because I was trapped under part of the plane… I had a huge hemothorax and lost consciousness… and everyone thought I died. They left me there…" Lexie was sobbing now, her entire body trembling. "But I was found. By some hunters. They called for help. I was still unconscious. I couldn't tell them that there were others. They had no idea. It wasn't until the first responders got there that they started to look for the rest of the plane. But by then they had already been found. I went to a different hospital than they did."

"Mer said that Cristina said… she found the wolves eating your body."

"Not mine," Lexie gestured to her person, very clearly alive. "It must have been another wolf, or maybe there were other hunters and one of them got attacked?" Lexie's lips quivered with every word. I myself was white-knuckling the arm of the chair, trying to take it all in.

"So why didn't you…"

"I couldn't," Lexie cut me off. "I mean, they thought I was dead. And for a while, after I first woke up from surgery… I wanted to be." She paused. "I called to find out what happened to them. But when they asked me if I wanted to be connected to them… I just said no. I couldn't. It was just… I was in psych for a while. And I wanted to wait until…"

"Until you knew you weren't going to kill yourself?"

"I figured it would be better for them if they already thought I was dead." At this, I heard Kaleigh intake a breath sharply. Poor kid. This was a strange way to get to know your doctor, to say the least.

"What about after?"

Lexie started to cry again. "I just… When I was finally out of psych, I thought it would be a good time to come back. I didn't know…"

My eyes filled with tears. She didn't know about Mark.

"Mark was Alexa's dad," I said to Kaleigh. And then I realized Lexie didn't know about Alexa. "Lexie…"

She held up her hand and nodded. "I figured it out when Kaleigh came in yesterday. She mentioned you guys and Alexa. And even though I decided to stay hidden, I kept looking you guys up. I did last night. The court cases were public record… and Alexa's birth certificate had your names on it."

"You knew him?" Kaleigh asked Lexie.

She nodded tearfully. "We… were meant to be."

 _Owen_

Amelia doesn't usually text me 910 (our step down from 911), unless it was for sex, but I knew she was with Kaleigh at the clinic so I was instantly worried. She asked me and Alexa to meet her at a restaurant nearby.

Alexa upstairs in her room, working on homework. I knocked and opened the door without waiting for an answer. "Amelia texted me, I think something might be happening with Kaleigh. She wants us to meet them right now."

"Oh, okay…" Alexa said, standing quickly and grabbing her jacket after slamming her laptop shut. I felt bad worrying her, but I didn't want to give her the illusion that everything was okay either.

We didn't talk for the entire way there. I fruitlessly tried to see Amelia and Kaleigh in the windows before we went into the restaurant. I searched the booths while Alexa talked to the hostess, and when my eyes landed on them, I parted the aisle in a rush to get to them, Alexa close behind.

We slipped into the booth across from each other and waited for the news. It took me a double take to realize there was a fifth person at the booth.

"Lexie?" I asked incredulously.

"Hi, Owen," she said.

"Lexie as in… Lexie Grey?" Alexa asked. Kaleigh nodded her head.

"Technically I go by Alexandra Silver now, but yes. It's nice to meet you Alexa." Lexie reached out to Alexa and shook her hand.

"How-"

"Later," Amelia cut in. "Lexie, this is her. Mark's daughter."

She smiled at Alexa. "You look kind of like him," she said wistfully.

"So… Looks like we have two 'Lex's now," I said, a laugh bubbling out of my chest. Lexie being alive was wonderful news, if not absolute shocking. I could tell Amelia was a little out of it, but when I was in the war, it wasn't rare to find people we had presumed dead.

Alexa shrugged. "I only ever go by Alexa, unless it's from Kaleigh. So you can keep Lexie."

"You are coming back home, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I…" she strained. "Well, I suppose I owe you and everyone else an explanation."

"You aren't going to stay?" Amelia asked. Even though she knew more than I did about what happened and why Lexie hadn't come back all these years, it was clear they weren't on the same page about what was going to happen in the future.

"Amelia… they're going to hate me," Lexie whispered.

"No, no they won't. They're going to be relieved, Lexie, they'll be…"

Amelia reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "Meredith isn't as dark and twisty anymore."

"Exactly. She's better off without me. She's had enough surprise sisters for one lifetime, don't you think?"

Alexa surprisingly weighed in. "Lexie, I know I don't know you at all, but I know Meredith and everyone else and it's like… the more the merrier. You knew my dad… I'd like to know you."

Lexie started really crying now, and then after a few seconds, it turned to uncontrollable laughter. "They'd have to rename the hospital!"

I caught Amelia's eye and burst into hysterics.

"Huh?" Kaleigh asked.

"Grey-Sloan Memorial. The Grey is Lexie and the Sloan is Mark," Alexa explained, after it was clear that the three of us were down for the count on that one.

It was nice to be thinking about taking a name off of the memorial, instead of the other way around.

 _Kaleigh_

This was all well and great, but there was still the matter of, oh, I don't know, me being pregnant.

I was going to have to get an abortion. I couldn't… I couldn't do that to these people. Amelia and Owen. Their lives were clearly busy enough without me fucking it up like that.

It wasn't just about that, though. I wouldn't be able to give a child a good life. I wasn't ready for motherhood. And after the past year, whatever my feelings about it may be, it was very clear to me that one thing you can't do is raise a child if you don't 100% want them.

Truthfully, I had known that this is what I was going to do since I took the test. Of course, I had wondered about raising a child, the possibility wasn't lost on me. I dreamed about it some nights, most nights it turned into a nightmare. I wanted kids, just not now.

Lexie, Owen and Amelia caught up about all the weird shit that's gone down since Lexie was presumed dead. Even hearing it for a second time, I still had trouble believing it. But there was Lexie, right before my eyes, living, breathing and existing.

I wondered how Meredith would react. The handful of times I had been with her, nothing substantial had happened. She seemed like she could be a stone-cold bitch if she wanted to be, so I hoped for Lexie's sake that she wasn't too upset with her for hiding herself like she was in witness protection. Though, I think if Alexa ever came back from the dead like that, I would have a hard time forgiving her.

When the conversation finally died down, I decided to bring up the sword hanging over my head. "Um, Dr. Silver, I…"

"Call me Lexie. OH! Your test! I never gave you the results."

"What test?" Owen asked.

"We ran a blood test to make sure it wasn't a false positive… It wasn't."

I inhaled sharply. "That's what I figured," I tried to play it off.

"We don't have to talk about this now," Amelia offered.

"Okay," I said, my voice breaking.

Our food came and I didn't say a single word for the rest of dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello again! Hope you are all doing well amidst the news of SD and JCap.**

 _Alexa_

It was strange, sitting in the back of Amelia's car with Lexie. Kaleigh, stubborn as she was, insisted that she wanted to sit in the front seat. I told her to let Lexie sit up front and she could ride back with Owen but she rolled her eyes at me and opened the door without a second thought. Lexie insisted that it was fine. Younger siblings, man.

"Can I ask you about Mark?" I asked to break the silence of this car ride.

"Alexa," Amelia said through gritted teeth up, eyeing me in the rearview mirror.

"Sure. I can't promise I won't cry, though. It's been a while since I've been so close to someone related to him. How is Sofia doing, by the way?" Lexie asked, leaning forward to hear Amelia's answer from the front seat.

"She's good. Her and Zola are thick as thieves these days. Last week Mer caught them trying to reach the attic door and hide up there." Amelia sighed and let go of the wheel for a second, stretching out her shaking fingers.

"Everyone says I get my sarcasm from him. Is that true?"

"Probably," she answered. "Although Amelia certainly has her fair share to pass on."

Amelia didn't smile.

"Amelia?" I asked.

"Sorry," she said. "It's not you Lexie, I swear. I am just worried about Meredith and Derek. He's… well he's been having a bit of a midlife crisis lately. I just don't want him to react negatively and sway what's important, which is you reconnecting with your sister."

"Really?" Lexie whispered.

"They've were separated. He went to work in DC for a bit. I mean, they're fine now. Maybe it's just me. It's just weird having him back in my life so much after only seeing him on holidays for so many years." Amelia took a deep breath. "He always loved you, that I know. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"So, uh…" Kaleigh started. "We're just going to go back to the house, and, what, invite Meredith over? You don't think that might put her into some shock?"

"Shut up, Kaleigh," I said. "Let them figure it out. It's not any of our business."

"Whatever, Alexa, I wasn't talking to you," she spat.

Things were unusually tense between us, but I couldn't exactly pinpoint why. Maybe she was missing our mother more now that she was pregnant. I wondered if it was too early for her to be hormonal.

Thankfully we pulled up to the house before anybody could try their hand at another forced conversation.

 _Kaleigh_

I left everyone downstairs in the living room to try and figure out what they wanted to do about the whole Lexie situation. I didn't care at all, to be frank. Rather, I cared more about myself at the moment.

Nobody even noticed I left. I felt a dark sense of relief as I closed the door behind me, not a single light turned on upstairs. My bed was ever-so-inviting. I peeled my clothes off, throwing them carelessly onto the floor and pulling on a huge tee shirt.

As I started to cry, I grabbed a pillow to muffle the sounds. That was the last thing I needed, someone bothering themselves to come check on me like some kind of saint, when really they just knew it'd be completely irresponsible to ignore their crying adopted child.

I wasn't being fair, and I could feel the cynicism enraging me more and more but I was powerless to stop it. I wanted to hurt. I wanted to go through it. Because maybe that would mean it would get better in the morning, after I cried myself to sleep tonight.

Sleep never came, though. After a few hours I figured I would give up trying to sleep so early in the night, and venture downstairs for some dinner.

Wiping my eyes from the leaky eyeliner that stained my cheeks, I pulled on a pair of pajama pants and started down the steps.

I could still hear their voices in the living room. I deliberately turned toward the kitchen instead.

"Hold on," I heard Alexa say, before she appeared in the doorway. "Are you alright? What have you been doing? Napping?"

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Are you? You should come sit with us. It might make you feel better."

I hoisted myself into a stool at the counter. "It makes you feel better. I barely know these people. All the people I know are across the country."

Alexa sighed. "Will you ever grow out of that mindset?"

"It's not my fault," I shrugged. "It might be different if I didn't have so much to deal with so soon after moving here."

I could tell Alexa was about to make some quip about how I could have been more careful, or about how I could have reduced all the drama by trying harder with Amelia, but she shut her mouth before she could. "Will you just come in the living room? We can play Uno or something. You know you want to."

I groaned. "I hate board games."

Alexa smirked. "Uno doesn't have a board, now does it? Whatever, it doesn't have to be Uno. You pick then."

I didn't give her an option so she grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the living room, where everyone was sitting where I had left them a while ago.

"You feeling okay?" Owen asked me as I sank into the open seat next to him on the couch. He put the back of his hand to my forehead.

"Yes," I said again. "I'm fine. I am just… overwhelmed."

Lexie gave me a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry that my news kind of took over yours. But we're all here for you, Kaleigh."

Amelia and Alexa nodded along with her.

I clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking. "I want to get an abortion."

 _Amelia_

I heard Owen's sharp intake of breath as the word "abortion" crossed Kaleigh's lips.

He must have known this was a possibility. We had taken in two girls who were raised by two completely different people. The likelihood was that there would be things we disagreed on.

Growing up, the most important thing to me was that my mother always let us decide for ourselves. She shared what she believed with us, but wasn't upset if we pursued other belief systems, religion or otherwise. As long as we weren't hurting anybody or ourselves.

She had repeated that part to me at my first intervention.

"I just… It's not the right time for me to raise a child. And it wouldn't be good for the child, having me as a mother. It's just not right."

"Do you want to schedule an appointment at the clinic, then? Right now, it's a fairly simple procedure, but the further you get along…"

"No," Owen interrupted.

"Owen," I said, trying to stop the shit show, but I knew it was no use.

"No, no, no! Just wait a second. You have barely even processed the idea of being pregnant. You can't have possibly made up your mind already. And what about Nick? Doesn't he get a say in any of this?"

"Stop it!" came the voice of reason, Lexie. "Owen. I'm sorry but the choice is Kaleigh's, and while, yes, I might encourage her to sleep on it a little, if this is what she wants to do because it most fits her needs, we have to support that whether you like it or not." She turned to Kaleigh. "You should tell the father what you're planning to do, though."

Kaleigh nodded, tears welling in her eyes as she avoided Owen's gaze. I felt awful. They had been getting really close and now this threatened that.

Alexa reached over to give Kaleigh's hand a squeeze. "Tomorrow, then. If you still want to get an abortion tomorrow, I'll come with you. Just you and me. And we can relax all day tomorrow and watch reality TV in our pajamas and eat ice cream out of the carton and nap in the middle of the day if we want."

I put my arm around Kaleigh's shoulders and she leaned her head on mine. "That's right."

"Kaleigh, I'm sorry, I just… I'm sorry, that's all," Owen said to her. I smiled at him over her head.

"So that brings us to Meredith, then. Should I invite her over now?" I breached the subject. "I think it's time for her to find out that you're… alive."

Lexie took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she let it go. "Okay. Just, tell her to come alone. Well, or, Derek can come. That wouldn't be too bad, right? If you don't mind the extra company, that is…"

Owen put a hand up to stop her from babbling. "Lexie, this is a good thing. This is your family you're talking about, remember? There's nothing more important."

She nodded and shivered. "Do it."

 _Owen_

Before we knew it, Meredith was knocking on the door softly. I got up from the couch and went to open it. Lexie looked like she could pass out.

Kaleigh and Alexa had moved upstairs to hang out, not wanting to put Meredith on the spot.

As I opened the door I saw that she hadn't brought Derek along. Personally I thought that was better. Derek was the type of person who needed to be eased into change.

"Hi, Owen. Amelia asked me to come over. Said she wanted to talk. Is everything okay?"

I nodded. "It is. It's more than okay, actually. We have some… news."

Mer's face lit up a bit. "Is she pregnant?"

"No, nothing like that…" I shrugged. "Just follow me."

I slowly paced to the archway into the living room. As I stepped out of the way, Lexie pushed herself off of the couch and stood up.

"Meredith," she said wearily.

"Le… Lexie? Lexie?"

I took Meredith's arm and led her to couch. She didn't sit though, and instead took Lexie into a tight embrace, crying.

"Is this real?" she asked.

"It's real," Lexie whispered. She let go and pulled Meredith to sit on the couch with her.

I sat down in the chair across from him, pulling Amelia onto the arm of the chair and put my arm around her waist, grateful to be here for such a heartwarming moment.

Meredith was shaking as she settled into the cushions. "This can't be real."

"It is," Lexie assured her. "It is. I promise. I suppose I have some explaining to do…"

"Lexie, I don't care. I just can't believe you're alive."

 **A/N: Again not my best writing in these chapters but I really wanted Lexie back in the story so bear with me. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys! Review please, thanks!**

 **Disclaimer: This chapter has some graphic scenes so read with caution.**

 _Amelia_

Meredith's eyes were barely dry for the rest of the night. She kept looking at Lexie like she couldn't believe she was sitting here, which, I'm assuming she couldn't. I mean it's been _years_ since the plane accident.

Alexa and Kaleigh had retreated upstairs and stayed there for the rest of the night. Owen had his arm around my shoulders, using his thumb to rub circles into my back. With my head on his shoulder, I could have fallen asleep right there and slept soundly through the night.

Instead we stayed up late into the night talking about everything that has happened since the crash. About how Cristina left, and how Jo Wilson was turning out to be one of the best in her class, about Bailey being the chief of surgery and Meredith being the chief of general.

Lexie had a little bit to update us on too. It took her two years to be able to walk again, and even then, it took some more time to adjust to her prosthetics enough that she could walk without crutches or a walker. They hadn't expected her to make any type of recovery based on where her crush injuries were, but it had worked out that there was a brain-dead organ donor in the hospital at the same time and they were able to transplant many of the organs and use a skin graft. Lexie said she goes out to her grave every year to thank her for the second chance at life. She wanted to continue being a doctor, but she didn't think she could work in Seattle Grace Mercy West (now Grey-Sloan) again, seeing Mark around every corner. So she rented a small apartment near the clinic and had been keeping her head down and saving money so that she could someday either buy a house and adopt some dogs or move across the country to try something new.

Meredith nearly had a death grip on her hand. "That's not still the plan, is it?"

"Meredith…" Lexie started. "I mean, I wasn't planning on seeing you guys ever again. I just… I wanted to leave that part of my life behind because we nearly died. We all nearly died. And I've been happy at the clinic. I mean, I'm not a surgical junkie like you and Cristina were. Are? I don't know. I can make myself happy with less, though. And I have been."

"Lexie… there hasn't been a day that I haven't thought about you. And what it would be like if the plane had never gone down. Every day I imagine your ponytail bobbing behind the rest of residents, poking your head through the crowd because you're a genius and you always know the answers when they ask questions during rounds. Only you'd be an attending by now, you'd probably be running the neuro department!" Meredith explained.

"Hey," I interjected.

Mer rolled her eyes at me. "No offense. I just want my little sister back, that's all. You belong here. You always have."

"I don't even know if I could go back to surgery, I mean, it's been so long and my legs…"

"Arizona does it," Owen pointed out.

"Just come talk to Bailey. Talk to everyone. Once they get past the initial shock, I'm sure everyone else would want you back at work, too."

Lexie sighed. "I don't know, Meredith. I just don't know." She poured herself a glass of wine.

 _Alexa_

Kaleigh was crying again upstairs. I was sitting at the end of her bed, trying to decide whether I should give her some space or try and talk to her.

"Alexa… what if I'm not making the right choice? I mean… no, I have to, it's the only logical choice, right?"

"It's not the only choice, Kaleigh," I said.

"No, it's stupid. I have to get an abortion. I mean, I'm 18. And I can't raise a child… Oh, God, but what if I regret it? What if one day I can't have kids when I'm old enough and I blew my only opportunity?"

"You can't think like that. If you talk yourself into a hole like that, you're going to regret the choice no matter what you do. Here's what I know," I sighed. "I know that you, Kaleigh, are a smart and capable girl with loads of potential. I know that girls who raise kids right out of high school often times don't get to reach their full potential. And I know that you hate kids, or dislike them, anyway. But I also know that if you wanted to, _really_ wanted, you could raise this kid. And even though you hate kids, you would love yours because it's your kid. And you could find a way to make it work, maybe by going to community college for a couple of years, or working full time for a while first…"

"Stop," she said. "Everything you just described… I can't live my life like that. I know I've made it a huge deal, coming out here and everything, but it's the happiest I've ever been. And I never would have admitted that to you, because, God, Alexa, I was so _mad_ at you for making the choice for me. And I know that's not how it actually worked and that's not fair, but I was so pissed from being ripped over here from my old life. So I haven't exactly shown it, but I am starting to realize that I am really happy here. But… not happy enough to be trapped for 18 years in the same place. Or mostly, anyway."

I shrugged. "So it's not what you want?"

"It's not what I want."

"Kaleigh, I think you're making the right choice, but it doesn't matter what I think. I'm biased. So you have to promise me that you're making the choice because it's what you want to do," I said.

"I've always kind of known, I just… I needed someone to lay it out for me like that. So thank you."

I nodded. "Tomorrow morning, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, goodnight," I stood, but lingered in her doorway. "I know it's been a rough time lately but things will start looking up soon. I'm kind of living proof of that."

She rolled her eyes. "So full of yourself, as always."

 _Kaleigh_

I woke up the next morning with my heart pounding in my throat. I was going to get an abortion this morning.

We decided to keep Lexie as my doctor, even though it was a slight conflict of interest, but they all decided it was fine because the procedure was going to be "simple". Like there was anything simple about ending a life that was growing inside of me.

Nick offered to come with me when I called him late last night, but I told him I didn't want to see him there, or anywhere. It's nothing personal I said. He seemed sad but told me he understood.

Amelia knocked on my ajar door that morning as I snoozed my alarm for the third or fourth time.

"Your appointment is in an hour, Kay." She came into my room and grabbed my hamper. "I'm going to do a load of laundry for you so you have some comfortable pajamas for your lazy day with Alexa when you get back. Do you want me to come?"

I sat up on the edge of the bed. "No, thank you."

When Amelia left I put my hand over my stomach. It was weird. I didn't really feel pregnant. Like, you know how in the books the women always just know they're pregnant even though it's been like a day?

I waited for a flutter, or a kick, or something, even though I knew it was too early for that. I mean, I guess I knew. My high school never had sex-ed and I hadn't exactly done the most thorough job reading up on it.

Alexa passed my room and then I heard her double back. She poked her head in. "Still good?"

I nodded, tiredly. I was exhausted, and not just because I was on the phone late last night with Nick.

Alexa drove me there and I spent the whole ride trying to avoid thinking about what was going to happen to me when I got there. Would they do another ultrasound? Was it too late for the pill? Would they have to use that thing… the whatsitcalled?

At the stoplight across from the clinic, Alexa took her hand off the wheel and squeezed mine. "It's going to be okay."

In Lexie's office, I was staring at a thousand different pamphlets that explained the difference between the medical and surgical procedures.

"These are really the standard options at this point. The medical procedure is less invasive and less risky, but you will go through a greater deal of pain at home, and you'll have to self-administer the second treatment. I usually wouldn't recommend it to someone so young, but you have doctors at home and I think you'd be able to handle it. On the other hand, the surgical procedure is a bit of a quicker recovery and slightly more effective. And you wouldn't need to schedule a follow up, unless you wanted one." Lexie went on to talk about more risks and benefits of each option, but I knew what I wanted to do.

The whole way over I had myself all worked up about what would have to be done to me, but now that it was getting explained to me in such blunt terms, I had changed my mind.

"I want the surgical procedure. I don't want to have to think about this ever again," I said.

Lexie nodded and cocked her head a bit. "Are you sure you want to do this? Are you absolutely sure?"

"You already asked me that," I pointed out.

"I have to," she replied. "So are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

Alexa stifled her shoulders shaking, but I could tell she was breathing unevenly like she did when she worried. I could always tell when she was worried, because she worried about almost everything. She had gotten really good at hiding it, but her breath sometimes caught like she was crying only she wasn't, she was just imagining the worst and replaying it for herself over and over.

"Alexa, it's fine," I said, albeit shakily. "I'm fine."

"I know you are. You're just my little sister. I don't want you to ever have to suffer."

Lexie smiled gently. "It's a simple procedure, there's no reason to worry."

A few minutes later I was in a gown, with my legs in stirrups, holding Alexa's hand and not looking at any of the equipment that surrounded me. My legs were shaking and I could feel hot tears welling behind my eyes, my heart in my throat again.

"Take a deep breath, Kaleigh," Lexie said. As she rolled her chair over to the bed, I felt the tears fall from my eyes and roll down my cheeks.

"So I'm going to insert the speculum now. You can minimize your discomfort by breathing normally and relaxing as much as possible."

I tried not to think about the implications of the procedure as I heard the vacuum turn on.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! As always thanks for reading and thank you for your patience. I will try to have more regular updates now that I'm out of school for the summer. Review please!**

 _Amelia_

Meredith had somehow convinced Lexie that she was coming into the hospital with us this morning to talk to Bailey. But she was still asleep on my couch when I came downstairs.

Even though I was a doctor, I was still shocked to see her without her prosthetics. She stirred as the last step let out an inevitable creak.

"Oh my God, what time is it? Did I oversleep?"

I chuckled. "Probably for Mer's standards, but I, a humane civilian, like to wait for people even if they're running late. I'll text her and tell her to meet us there."

Lexie let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. I'll be ready in like 15 minutes, us that okay?"

I put my hand on her shoulder once she stood. "Lexie. Relax. I'm like… 99% of the time not going to care about whatever you're worrying about. That's not my style. Alright?"

She sighed again. "Thank you, Amelia. I appreciate everything you've done for me."

"What else am I supposed to do with the newest potential neuro attending?" I smirked.

A bit later, once we made it to the hospital, we met Meredith in the tunnels. Part of the reason Lexie agreed to come was only if no one saw her. Of course, that apparently excluded Derek.

"Lexie…" he said, with tears in his eyes. They embraced for a minute. Mer caught my eye but looked away. She probably felt bad for bringing Derek along, even though I'm sure he would have heard that Lexie was back from her anyway. From what I understand, Derek was always a good big brother to Lexie. Ha. Must be nice.

"Hi, Derek," Lexie said. "How are you doing?"

"How am I? H-how are you?" he chuckled, wrapping his arms around her shoulders again. "Lexie, I'm sorry about Mark…"

"Thank you," she nodded.

"What time is Bailey expecting us?" I asked.

Mer looked at her watch. "Now. Well, we have a minute. Let's take the stairs, there probably won't be anyone over there."

The four of us started to our covert operation.

 _Kaleigh_

"Kay," Nick said, approaching my locker on Monday morning. "How are you?"

I sighed internally. "Nick…"

"I know, I know. I just want to make sure you're okay. So… I'll see you around, alright?"

We shared a smile and for a minute I felt the sudden urge to kiss him. Ugh, hormones. "Yeah. You will see me around."

Jess and I walked to homeroom together, and there were more than a few faces looking at me. Or was I imagining it? But Jess was also being way too nice to me.

"So how was your weekend? We didn't really talk much. Did anything interesting happen?" she was babbling all the way down the hall.

"Um, actually, well…" I saw her eyes light up as I started, and I knew she thought I was falling for her bait. "My… Amelia's brother's wife's half-sister, who was presumed dead, is actually alive."

"What! So that makes her your…" she bobbed her head as she put it all together. "Your aunt-in-law?"

"Is that a thing?" I asked, as we sat down at our desks, which were, to my dismay, right next to each other.

"I think so. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe she's like an aunt once-removed or something. Anyways. Is that it?"

"Is that it? Jeez, Jess, that's a pretty eventful weekend if I do say so myself. I mean, it was so weird, meeting this person and seeing how everyone else reacted to it… I never in a million years dreamed that this would be happening to me."

"Yeah, yeah… I know, it's just… I don't know, what'd _you_ do all weekend?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you accusing me of something or are you pissed that we didn't hang out?"

"Neither! Neither, I just… look I don't know how to say this, Kaleigh." We shared a look and I knew she knew what happened.

"Not here," I said through gritted teeth.

"So it's true?" she asked, her eyes swelling with concern.

"I said not here, Jess!" Of course, my outburst had attracted more attention than her whispers about the subject had. "We can talk about it later. Not that I owe you shit."

"Kay…"

I was already standing. "No, Jess, just shut up already. I don't care what bullshit you're about to feed me, we all know the only thing you like better than a dick in your mouth is a new headline of gossip."

I started to storm out of the room as my homeroom teacher started to walk in. "Ms. Lane?"

"Don't worry about her, Mr. Hebert. She's just having some hormonal issues lately," came the voice of Graham Cates, sitting in the front row.

I spun and my heel and punched him squarely in the eye.

 _Owen_

I was in surgery when my pager went off. The scrub nurse, who unfortunately wasn't Bohkee, read out that it was the school.

A thousand thoughts raced through my head, but the realistic part of me said that whatever it was, it wasn't more important than the patient lying open on the table in front of me. I _knew_ that. But it didn't stop me from paging Kepner in from the ER.

"Owen?" she asked, after scrubbing in. In the whole six minutes it had taken her to get here, I had seen an entire movie of awful scenarios playing in the back of my brain. A school shooting. A bomb threat. A car accident in the parking lot.

"I need to get to the school… something with Kaleigh… can you take over? It's just an MCV victim with internal bleeding."

"Absolutely, go ahead."

I called the school back the second I got to my truck.

"Dr. Hunt? Let me transfer you to Vice Principal Folan."

I waited on the line for another minute until I was transferred.

"Dr. Hunt, this is Vice Principal Folan."

"Yes," I answered. "What is going on?" I may have nearly ran a red light as I drove frantically to the school.

"I'm here with Kaleigh. She has punched another student in the face."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Is something amusing there, Dr. Hunt?"

"No, no, I mean Jesus, I thought she was hurt, or-or… or dead, you know?"

"Dr. Hunt, we're going to need you to come down to the office. I assure you this is a serious matter."

"Of course," I said. "I am already on my way."

I heard what might have been a chuckle on the other end of the line. "Usually parents wait until they know what's going on before taking off from work to get here… Regardless, your wife actually answered before you did so she's also en route."

"Okay, I'll see you shortly."

 _Amelia_

I know it was bad that Kaleigh had decided to punch another kid in the face, but I was cracking myself up with the possibility of what the kid had done to piss her off so much. He – and I knew it was a guy, because I was almost positive she would never punch another girl, but instead get revenge in a sneakier, more inconspicuous way – probably strap snapped her bra, or called one of her friends a slut, or objectified women in one of the millions of ways men do that every day. That wasn't the funny part. The funny part was some stupid jock with fragile masculinity getting punched by Kaleigh, because while Kaleigh had a _lot_ of anger, she didn't have the most muscle definition. And I already knew he 100% deserved it.

Maybe that's part of being a parent, though. Believing your kid was in the right without even hearing the full story. My mother was certainly never like that, but I had friends whose parents thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Of course, those girls usually lacked the discipline later in life to fulfill their own potential, but I didn't like to make broad generalizations.

Owen's truck was parked in the fire lane in front of the school when I got there. I rolled my eyes. I bet he left a patient open on the table and ran to his truck in his scrubs.

I, on the other hand, was talking to Lexie in one of the on-call rooms, updating her on what has happened in neuroscience since she was gone. One of the things she said she enjoyed about working at the clinic was that there was less of a need to constantly read the literature to keep yourself current and up to date. But she was Lexopedia. She was catching on really fast.

I had locked the door behind us, but the handle jiggled. "Amelia? I saw you walk in there a few minutes ago. Perhaps you could… dismount Owen and come do a consult for me? It's just that it's a really great friend of Sofia's and I don't trust anyone nearly as much as you, and Derek is…"

I cleared my throat. "Um… not with Owen," I said, interrupting Arizona.

She tried the handle in. "Then what are you doing? Just unlock the door and I can show you some scans…"

I gestured to Lexie, who had a look of horror on her face. I bulged my eyes. "Make a noise, or something," I whispered.

"Amelia, seriously…"

Lexie let out a groan that was a comically attempt at a sex noise. I had to cover my mouth to keep from having an outburst.

Just then my pager had gone off. I gestured for Lexie to "stay here" as I slipped out of the door, careful to keep Arizona from being able to see into the room behind me.

Arizona looked completely confused. "Wait are you… who… How did you get dressed so fast?" She reached for the door handle once again but I grabbed her arm.

"This person… really doesn't want to be outed," I emphasized. "She… they, I mean, they… don't want anyone to know who they are."

"Amelia are you cheating on Owen?" Arizona asked, with wide eyes.

"No, I… God no."

A look of realization that I could have laughed if I wasn't lying through my teeth crossed her face. "Oh, you guys are… trying something else out, huh?"

"Sure, let's go with that. I can't do a consult right now. Kaleigh's school just paged me. I'll find you when I get back. Don't… please don't mention this."

Arizona winked. "Mention what?"

 _Kaleigh_

Amelia and Owen arrived at the office at the same time, which made me throw my head back in exasperation.

Of course friggin' Graham Cates wasn't in the office with me. No, apparently rude comments that border on sexual harassment don't matter if they come from a baseball player who was well liked by the rest of the faculty.

"Doctors, I'm glad you could make it. Please have a seat."

They sat on either side of me, both of them trying to make eye contact with me, but I had my eyes trained on the ground.

"Kaleigh, would you like to explain what happened now that your parents are here?"

I almost corrected Folan and said that they weren't my parents, but that would just hurt them, and I didn't even believe that. I was just angry and upset.

"Yeah. That stupid prick Graham made a comment about my hormones, like women aren't anything more than a target to make fun of, and I punched him. He deserved it. Just give me the office detention already."

"I think you're overreacting to his comment, Ms. Lane. It wasn't sexually charged-"

" _Bullshit_ ," I said, hitting my fist against her desk. Amelia took my hand and uncurled the fist, interlocking my fingers with her own and holding my hand in her lap.

"What was the comment?" she asked.

Folan looked to me. I sighed. "He said that I was having hormonal issues lately, but I know it wasn't just that. He knows what happened this weekend. They all do. Nick _fucking_ told." I looked up to the ceiling, trying to use gravity to keep my tears from falling. I could feel my hand trembling in Amelia's.

Folan shrugged. "And you think that warrants punching him in the face?"

I bit my tongue.

"Hold on a minute. Where's this kid? Grant?"

"Graham," she corrected. "He's been dismissed with a warning."

Owen stood. "Classic. That's just classic."

"Dr. Hunt…"

"No, I don't think you understand!" he yelled.

"Owen, stop it!" Amelia let my hand go to put both of hers on Owen's shoulders.

"I assure you, Dr. Hunt, the entire situation has been explained to me by multiple people."

"No, you don't understand because my daughter… had an abortion this weekend! And this kid is clearly teasing her about that. And you're going to sit here and say that it's not a 'sexually charged' comment? Oh, but I suppose the kid who actually knocked her up hasn't gotten any flack. Perfect, it's just perfect."

Folan only shrugged again. "You have every right to appeal my decision to the school board, but for now, Kaleigh has office detention after school until 6pm."

Walking out of the school, tears streaming down my face, I was convinced that I would have been better off if neither of them had come at all.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I know, I know, it's been like… more than a month… I don't even have excuses or reasons I just got caught up in all the summer activities. Short chapter until I have more time to write next week. Review, please!**

 _Amelia_

"Kaleigh…" I sighed. She had chosen to get dismissed for the rest of the day since her office detention wasn't until tomorrow afternoon. Owen had rushed back to work so I decided I would drop her off and maybe stay for a while if she wanted. It didn't seem like she was going to want that, though. "I mean, we have options. You don't have to go to the office detention if we try the appeal…"

"I don't give a _fuck_ about the office detention."

I smiled, catching her eye. "Duh. But that might send the message you want to that kid… Never mind, stupid idea. But for the record, I am proud of you. We both are."

Her eyebrows shot up. "You're proud of me for punching a kid in the face?"

"No, though it's badass, you shouldn't be punching people in the face. We're proud of you for standing up for yourself and fighting for what you believe in. I wish I had done better for myself when I was your age."

"Oh please," she rolled her eyes. "Lex tells me you were a huge badass when you were younger."

I froze for a second. "I don't think she was telling you the whole story. She probably just wanted to paint me in a good light, considering we weren't necessarily going to like each other right away."

"Yeah, that sounds like something she would do. But I do. Like you, I mean."

I smiled again. "I like you, too."

She couldn't help but chuckle at how cheesy we were being. "Thanks for coming today. There's no way… that would have happened in the past. She would have left me sitting in the office all day. Either of us."

"I'm sorry," I nodded.

"It's okay. It just sucks she was such an awful mother. But good that you're such a great one."

I couldn't help the tears that brimmed. I had always made fun of mothers who cried at everything their kids said or did, but I was starting to understand. "Are you feeling better after this weekend?"

"Much," she admitted. "Though I don't think I'm going to be able to just forget about it like I had planned. It was really… weird."

I nodded in agreement. "No, I don't think you'll forget about it any time soon. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I wish I had a dog…" she said emptily.

I rolled my eyes. "A dog? Are you really using your current situation as a ploy to get a dog?"

"Can we?"

"Not now. There's a lot going on," I said.

"There's _always_ a lot going on."

She wasn't wrong.

 _Alexa_

It was easy to be okay in the midst of all of Kaleigh's drama. It was easy to be okay during class, or when I was at craft club, or with my friends.

Staring at the wall before falling asleep was when I didn't have to be okay.

And tonight, I wasn't okay.

I kept replaying what happened over and over in my mind. Maybe I misinterpreted. Maybe I hallucinated it. I kept just hoping that things were not the way the seemed, because that would be one of the worst things that could happen to me.

She isn't here. She can't be here in Seattle. She doesn't care about me. Or Kaleigh. So it doesn't make sense that a lawyer said to me that she's requested to see me.

Was it a lawyer? I suppose it could have been a PI.

 _Alexa Lane?_

 _Yes?_

 _I represent the offices of Ronald Ferrara. Your mother has hired us. She is requesting to see you. If you don't comply, legal actions may be taken against you._

I didn't think that they could technically do anything to me if I didn't want to see her, but I wonder if they were planning an appeal on the custody case.

I couldn't for a second imagine why she would want to see us again or take back custody of us. Unless it directly benefitted her in some way shape or form.

I remembered how much it sucked to have a concussion. Dizziness every time I stood, unannounced nausea, difficulty concentrating… not to mention the actual head pain that still sometimes came to me when I had spent too long on one task.

All of that, because of her.

She didn't even _do_ anything to me today, I didn't even see her today, and she's affected me this much. What's going to happen if she tries to come find me herself?

I was lying on my side, facing away from the room, trying not to cry so that Lily wouldn't bother me and ask me what was wrong, and then of course not understand because her parents were awesome and loving and got her everything she wanted.

I wanted to text Amelia, or Kaleigh, but I knew that they were both probably caught up in Kaleigh's recovery from this weekend. That was way more important than anything else, but I was still just reeling.

I decided at last to call Meredith. I needed to hear someone else's voice. Someone close to the situation. Someone who would actually understand that this would probably really set me back.

Her cell rang a few times before she finally answered. "Hi, Alexa. What's up? I'm just coming back from dinner with Lexie, so I can't talk for long, but…"

That's right. I had completely forgotten that Meredith was dealing with the return of her relatives, though in her case, it was a return she actually wanted. Still, she must have wanted to spend as much time with Lexie as possible, since it's been so long, and my selfish mind didn't even think about that before calling.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were busy. I'll talk to you soon. Bye."

"Wait," she said. "I'm just waiting for a taxi. What'd you need?"

"I didn't… I didn't need anything, really, I just… never mind, alright? I'm just going to go to sleep. Goodnight."

"Okay. Goodnight. Talk to you soon."

As I hung up, a few tears sprung to my eyes. Rationally, I knew it wasn't anybody's fault that they had other things going on, but it still sucked for me. I felt worse remembering the fact that everyone had been taking care of me for a while before that. Was I a hypochondriac? The second Kaleigh gets any attention, I had to make up a new problem for myself?

No, I didn't actually think that, but this was how my mother got to me. This is what she did to me. Negative thoughts that I can't control. Feeling like I was alone, and a burden to people when I tried to connect with them.

The victims of abuse support group I went to for like, two meetings had a lot of people who felt like that, so I guess that was something. Still, I could feel myself becoming something that I wasn't and I didn't like it. It didn't help that my own attempt to help myself was fruitless.

So, I spent the rest of the night staring at that wall, trying to sleep before my neuroscience class in the morning, but knowing it just wasn't going to happen.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm so sorry! I work full time in the summer so I almost never come home with the energy to write haha. Review please, they're what keeps me going!**

 _Kaleigh_

As soon as Amelia left, I beelined for the car and got the hell out of Suburban Bliss™ as fast as I could. I rationalized to myself that I wasn't technically doing anything wrong because they were the ones who dismissed me from school, but it still felt like skipping.

I didn't know where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to be around people who didn't know me, who had no clue that I had aborted a pregnancy at the ripe old age of 18, who didn't know that my birth mother basically hated me and my adopted mother was an abusive drunk, who didn't know how badly I hated myself.

I parked near the Space Needle, where I knew there would be a million tourists even though it was the middle of the week. I tried my hardest to blend in as I paced the streets, hands in my coat pockets and head down. I didn't walk with purpose or destination in mind. I just walked.

Eventually, as the sky started to turn darker despite how early in the day it was, I figured it would be a good time to try and double back to my car. I wasn't worried about getting lost; I had no where to be and no desire to be at home. I just… was. And that was enough for then.

I got the weird sense that somebody was following me, like the scene in _Willy Wonka_ where Slugworth approaches Charlie out of nowhere. I kept checking my back until finally, I recognized a guy that I had seen a time or two before earlier today.

Me being me, and not caring about literally anything at this point, stopped dead in my tracks, making eye contact, and started tapping my foot. When he didn't turn around and walk away, I put my arms out in a "What the fuck?" gesture.

Finally, he started walking towards me. I got a little scared but didn't waiver, taking in the details of his face in case I would need them later. For whatever reason that might be.

"So I suppose you're wondering who I am," he said once he got close to me.

"I don't give a fuck who you are," I spat. "Just leave me alone."

He looked amused. "Well, she said it would be tougher with you, now didn't she."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your mother."

I rolled my eyes. "You're going to need to be a little more specific. I've only had, like, three of them." But I knew which one he was talking about.

"Well I'll give you a hint. She isn't your birth mother and she isn't a doctor. Does that narrow it down?"

"Slightly," I remarked. "What the fuck is she sending you over to me for?"

"I represent the offices of Ronald Ferrara. Your mother has hired us. She is requesting to see you. If you don't comply, legal actions may be taken against you."

"Oh yeah? What legal actions?" I called his bluff.

"Subpoenas, probably," he said.

I fake-smiled. "Okay, well I'm all set with that. Don't come near me again or I'll kick you in the balls."

I took off in the other direction, not even bothering to check if he was following me. I knew I probably shouldn't have lost my temper, but who the fuck was she to send some rando to go follow me and threaten "legal action"?

I checked my phone. I had a few missed calls from Lex, a text from Amelia asking where I had gone off to, and an apology from Jess with the request that I call her back later. I decided to call Lex first.

"You will never believe what just happened to me," I said at the same time as she said "Mom sent some guy after us."

We were both silent for a second.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I just talked to him. It's all a bunch of bullshit."

"You think so?" She said in her ever-present worried voice.

"I do. What can she do? She lost the custody battle. She can't sue us for not wanting to see her. Right?"

She sighed. "No, but maybe they are planning to appeal the custody decision. Either way, don't go to see her, no matter what that guy says. If they are planning an appeal, they'll find a way to spin us visiting her to their advantage."

"I wouldn't call it a visit more so than a threat to call off her goon before I do all the shit she did to us, to her." That got a giggle from Lex.

"Make sure you have the baseball bat ready!" she added with a chuckle.

"Alright well if that's all you've got…"

"No, Kay, wait a sec. Amelia told me you have an office detention. What happened?"

"Why did Amelia tell you that?"

Lex paused. "I don't think she meant to gossip about it or anything like that. I was just on the phone and she was saying that you seem a lot more like yourself since this weekend except for the fact that you were in trouble at school. I was the one who pushed but she wouldn't tell me what for."

"What? That's the best part. But yeah, I punched this kid Graham in the face. He was making jokes about me being hormonal. I think Nick told everyone at school. So now they all know… I got dismissed early today."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I am. I just… wish none of this had ever happened, to be honest. I hate high school. I just want to be at UMass already."

"UMass, huh? What made you pick that?"

"Well, they're giving me the most money for one, and two, all my friends are going there. You know. From before."

"Am I the first person you've told about your official decision?"

"You are," I confirmed. "Don't tell Amelia or Owen just yet. I want to do that myself."

"'Kay. I'm going to go, now. I'll see you this week sometime."

"Alright, bye."

It took me another couple of minutes to find my car. When I did, I scanned the parking lot for that guy one last time. It was almost completely dark out, and my stomach was rumbling for dinner. I figured I was in the clear and started back, feeling better than I did on the way here.

 _Amelia_

Kaleigh came in some time before dinner, which was surprising because I thought I was going to have to convince her to get back here before curfew after the past few days that she's had. I could tell she was tired, she just didn't want to admit it. With the excitement of Lexie and the pain she was experiencing after the clinic, she should be exhausted.

"Kaleigh," I called as she began to skip the greetings and head right up the stair. She turned to me but made no effort to walk over to me. "I'm making grilled cheese and tomato soup. And Owen is upstairs making sure the jacuzzi is running right if you want to take a bath in our bathroom. I figure you might want to relax after everything."

She let her shoulders sag and walked into the kitchen, sitting at the counter. "Thanks."

The bags under her eyes were dark purple, and her eyelids looked like they were half closed. I could even tell that her movements were just a bit too much; she took each bite slowly and had her head resting in her hand the whole time.

Owen came downstairs and joined us soon after. "You alright, kiddo?" he asked, rubbing her shoulders for a minute as he sat down.

I was really surprised to see tears in her eyes as she looked up.

"It's just… nice to have a place to be able to let your guard down. It hasn't been like that for Lex or I in a long time."

"Did something happen?" I ask. She shook her head no, taking another spoonful of soup.

Owen caught my eye and we both knew something was going on. Not that something hadn't been going on for the past… forever. But something had happened to put her in this mood, because when I left her here earlier she was nothing but angry and fired up.

"Kaleigh…" Owen started. "Are you sure?"

"I am," she sniffled. "Sorry. I'm not trying to worry you or be dramatic or anything. It's just… the fact that you thought to make my favorite soup and run a bath… it's just like, the nicest thing someone has done for me in a while. And I kind of just felt all the anger I had form earlier roll of my shoulders, because it felt like it might all actually be okay."

"It will be," I assured her. "It's just an office detention. It won't follow you once you graduate."

She looked like she was going to say something else, but shook her head and continued to slowly finish her meal.

Well, I think that was the most we were going to get out of her for one day.

 _Alexa_

I was walking back from my 6 PM neuro lab when my phone pinged with a message in my school inbox. Figuring it was a notification from the class website or something stupid like that, I ignored it until it pinged again. A chill ran down my spine as I opened the messages.

They were pictures. Pictures of me walking on campus… while it was dark out… alone… in front of the building I had just passed two or three minutes ago.

I frantically looked around me, but I couldn't see anyone suspicious. Most people didn't have classes this late, so the academic buildings had barely any foot traffic. My best bet was to get to the residential side of campus where there were lots of witnesses.

After sprinting across Main Street and into the closest dorm, where I didn't live but pretended to for the sake of getting inside, I inspected the emails closer. The last one sent showed me with my phone out, looking at the screen in horror.

Someone was following me.

Rationally, I knew it was most likely the PI my mother put out for Kaleigh and I but why would he send me the pictures he was taking?

The email address gave no hints; it just said "anonymous1 ". I scrolled through each of the emails again, looking for anything other than the pictures that I might have missed. But there was nothing.

After I had been standing in the stairwell for a few minutes, one of the RA's came up to me. "Do you live here?"

"No," I admitted. "Someone held the door for me. I just wanted to take a break inside. It's cold out there."

"Okay…" she seemed weirded out. "I'm just going to have to ask you to go now, sorry."

"It's alright. Thanks," I said as I pushed back out into the night.

I dialed Amelia.

"Hi, Alexa, I'm just about to do the dishes so can I call you-"

"Did Kaleigh talk to you at all tonight about a guy?"

"A guy… no, I don't think so. Why, what's going on? She did seem a little off earlier."

"Can you just… will you please just stay on the phone with me until I get to my dorm."

"Of course… Alexa, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I assured her and myself. "It's just dark and I saw a shadow or something. It's nothing."

"I'm going to ask Meredith if she can go get you. I want to talk to you guys. There's something going on, I can tell. Just earlier you were both fine and now you're acting like something is making you feel unsafe."

I almost broke down right then and there, and told her the truth. But I didn't want to hurt her by saying that my mother was back.

A cold breeze made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. "Okay," I said. "Don't hang up."

"I'm having Owen call," she said. I couldn't tell if she was upset that I wasn't sharing or if she was just trying to stay calm.

"Are you alright?" she asked again after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah. I'm almost there. Sorry."

"Don't be… What? Okay… Mer is going to come get you right now. It'll be about 20 minutes. She was already up that way."

"What? No she wasn't," I said, taking out my ID to unlock the outside door to my dorm.

"No, you're right, she wasn't, but she told Owen it was only going to take 20 minutes so maybe Derek is driving."

"I'm inside," I said. "I'll see you in a bit. Thanks. Sorry."

"Okay. Pack whatever you'll need for the rest of the week. I'll drive you to and from campus until we get this sorted out. Whatever 'this' is."

"Are you mad?" I asked carefully, fearing the answer.

"What? No of course not! Why would I be mad? Do I have something to be mad about, Alexa?"

"No, I don't… You just seem mad. She would have been."

Her voice softened. "Honey. I'm worried about you two. I'm upset that something is making you feel this way. But I'm not mad. I just want to get to the bottom of this and make sure my girls are safe. Alright?"

"Alright. I'll be there soon. I'll tell you everything, promise."

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too."

My hands shook as I opened my door, quickly gathering everything to pack and running back down to the lobby before Lily could come back and question me. As soon as I saw Meredith's car pull up, I ran out to it, eager to leave.

Only it wasn't Meredith's car.


End file.
